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Water tiger
This article is about the long-fanged river monsters reported from South America. For the Nicaraguan cryptid of the same name, see was nawahni. , , , , , , |Reported=1774 |Researchers=• Rene Ricatte • Karl Shuker • Angel Morant Forés • Richard Freeman • Christian Voillemont }} Water tigers (Spanish: tigres d'agua; Portuguese: tigres de água) are cryptid river or lake monsters reported from parts of South America, principally the Guianas, almost always described as aquatic tusked animals. Cryptozoologists speculate they may be living sabre-toothed cats, forming a parallel with the African water lions, or some form of giant otter. Animals of the same name appear in the folklore of various Amazonian peoples, but are not described as having long fangs; nor is the n "water tiger" was nawahni. Cryptids classified as water tigers *Aypa ( ) *Entzaeia-yawá ( ) *Maipolina ( ) *Yaquaru ( , ) Description Water tigers are usually described as being the size of a jaguar or somewhat larger. All but the entzaeia-yawá are said to have two large, protruding teeth or "tusks", and the reported fur colour ranges from fawn, yellowish, and black to white, brown, and reddish. The coat is usually said to be unnmarked save for, in the maipolina, a large stripe along the back. There is some variety in the physical descriptions of different water tigers: the maipolina has a short fur, a stripe running down its back, drooping ears, and clawed anteater-like feet; the yaquaru has woolly fur and erect ears; and the entzaeia-yawá has duck-like feet, a tufted, cow-like tail, and no tusks or fangs. Karl Shuker suggests that the water tigers of northern South America - the maipolina and either the aypa or the yaquaru - are simply different sexes of the same species, showing high sexual dimorphism. All the water tigers are described as being aquatic predators, waiting for their prey underwater, or attacking canoes and snatching the occupants. Several are described as living in caves or hollows in riverbanks. They are nocturnal, and will attack humans. A 2007 investigation carried out by Richard Freeman in Guyana into an unnamed water tiger which was not the maipolina came up with some previously-unknown details. This water tiger was described as 10' long including the tail, with a white coat spotted with black, and a striped head. It hunts in packs led by an alpha male termed "the master", which plans the hunts to be carried out by younger individuals. Sightings Undated Amaïpeti, son of the chief of the Roucouyenne Indians, told Colonel Rene Ricatte that he had seen a maipolina lying on a rock by a river one evening. An Oyampi Indian living on the River Oyapock told Christian Voillemont that he once saw a maipolina rise out of the water to break apart canoe, and swim off with the occupant in its jaws. Another Indian told Voillemont that he had once caught a "giant otter with sabre teeth" in the river.Voillemont, Christian Le Popoké, le Maïpolina, la Mamadilo - Aventure en Guyane aventuresenguyane.com 24 May 2019 A man named Carlos Pichama claimed that an entzaeia-yawá had killed his cousins wife during a fishing trip to the Mangusas River. After finding her missing, he: 1752 Thomas Falkner saw a yaquaru in 1752, on the Río Paraná in Argentina. He described the animal thus: 1870 British explorer George Chaworth Musters, who explored Patagonia in 1870, heard stories of a "water tiger" from the Mapuche. He also saw two South American ostrich carcasses floating in shallow water in the Senguer River. 1962 After the body of a seven-year-old boy who died in the Maroni River at Maripasoula on 21 October 1962 was pulled out of the water by local gendarmes, the corpse was discovered to have been partially eaten: among other things, his nose and mouth had been devoured, he had been eviscerated, and his arm had been pulled off. The injuries on the body were confirmed by an autopsy carried out by a Doctor Lamonerie:Vaudrey, Glen CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: GLEN VAUDREY: Whole Wide World (the missing bits) forteanzoology.blogspot.com 24 May 2019 Colonel Ricatte saw the death certificate himself. It was claimed that a popoké, or maipolina, was responsible for the mutilation of the body, and the injuries were not consistent with an attack by any known animal.Ricatte, Rene (1978) De Ile du Diable aux Tumuc-Humac, La Pensee UniverselleRaynal, Michel "Le "tigre à dents en sabre" sud-américain" Institut Virtuel de Cryptozoologie cryptozoo.pagesperso-orange.fr 24 May 2019 The boy was bathing or swimming in the river when he died, and it is unclear if he drowned accidentally and was gnawed after his death, or was actually killed by the maipolina. 1989 A man named Juan Bautista Rivadeneira claimed to have seen an entzaeia-yawá in 1989 at the mouth of the Jurumbaino river, a tributary of the Upano, in Ecuador. Theories :See also: Entzaeia-yawá#Theories and Maipolina#Theories. Although identities of jaguars and giant otters have been offered for cryptids such as the yaquaru, Karl Shuker writes that only an identification as a sabre-toothed cat can reconcile all their characteristics. Many cryptozoologists speculate that the water tigers may be living sabre-toothed cats which have adapted to an aquatic lifestyle to avoid competition which predators such as jaguars, as a parallel to the African water lions. Philippe Coudray suggests that the anteater-like claws of the maipolina are adaptations to the slippery soil of rivers. The marsupial sabre-tooth Thylacosmilus has also been suggested as a possible explanation, but Thylacosmilus is believed to have gone extinct before the sabre-toothed cats even arrived in South America, and had a pair of distinctive bony flanges on its lower jaw. Similar cryptids Do you think the exists? If so, what do you think the is? Myth, folklore, hoax, or otherwise made-up Mistaken identity Living sabre-toothed cat Living Thylacosmilus Unknown otter A very similar creature, the dinamu, appears in the folklore of in Central America, and long-tusked creatures sometimes compared to walruses appear in sightings and folklore from southern Patagonia. Normal sabre-toothed cats have occasionally been reported from the cloud forests of , , and , where they are termed tigre dantero. In a possible case of convergent evolution, both aquatic and montane long-fanged cats are also reported from Africa. Notes and references Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Tiger, water Category:No recent sightings Category:21st Century